


Family

by MyOwnSuperintendent



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 15:45:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14405316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyOwnSuperintendent/pseuds/MyOwnSuperintendent
Summary: Along with their three children, Mulder and Scully celebrate Scully's sixtieth birthday.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a tumblr post from @how-i-met-your-mulder (skuls on here), wishing for fic with all three of Scully's children alive and happy. This is 112% fluff.
> 
> I don't own The X-Files or anything related to it. Hope you enjoy!

There’s a wail from the living room, followed by a cry of “I’m using that!”

“But I want—”  Another wail.

“I’ve got this one,” Emily says quickly, as they all half start towards the door.  “It’s your birthday, Mom, you stay here.”  And she goes into the living room, where the girls have been playing; they can hear her voice, half admonishing, half consoling.  “Meg, remember what we were talking about?  Those are your Aunt Susanna’s crayons.  You should ask before you take them.  But Susanna, do you think you could let Meg use some?  Could you share?”  Her words seem to smooth over the conflict, and soon she’s back in the dining room, where the rest of them have been talking after finishing lunch.  “Just some crayon disputes,” she says.  “But they’re all right now.” 

“That’s good,” Scully says.  “Susanna’s not used to having to share.  But she’ll come around, I hope.”

“That’s all right,” Emily says.  “Meg isn’t used to it either.  We’ve been talking about it, now that she’s starting preschool.  But she doesn’t really like doing it.”

“I wonder where she got that from,” William says, grinning.

“Oh, don’t even start,” Emily says.  “I’m great at sharing.  Just because that one time I wouldn’t give you half of my ice cream…”

“You would have let me starve if it were up to you…”

Twenty-seven years of doing this together (Mulder always dates it from when Emily came home with Scully—it started then, in some form or other), and he’s still shocked sometimes at how normal it can be.  Of course, there are some things about their parenting situation that aren’t exactly typical, to put it mildly.  Their children are each of them miraculous, and not just in the way that all parents think their children are, and the two of them were certainly the only couple with an infant at William’s high school graduation.  In moments like this, though, when they’re all here, come together for no more sinister purpose than celebrating Scully’s sixtieth birthday, none of that makes a difference.  A family: that’s what they are.

That’s what Scully had said she wanted, when he asked her what they should do for her birthday.  “Nothing big,” she’d said.  “Just the family.  That’s all I want.”  And even though they’re all in different places now, they’ve managed it.  Emily flew in from California with her husband, Tim, and Meg, who’s three now and already so much taller than when they last visited.  She looks like Emily at that age, like Susanna, like Scully; Mulder watched the four of them sitting together on the couch last night, thinking the resemblance was somehow more incredible than anything he’d seen on the X-Files.  William drove down from Massachusetts, where he’s working now.  He’s an adult these days, like it or not; he even took charge of making lunch yesterday, although his dishwashing abilities still leave something to be desired.  Susanna still lives here, of course, but she’s taking time out of her busy schedule of kindergarten to join the festivities.  She made her mother a truly elaborate birthday card, absolutely covered in crayoned hearts; Scully definitely got a little teary looking at it, and Mulder would tease her, except that he knows she would have far too many examples to counter with.  They’re all here for four days, coming in on Friday and leaving on Monday, and right now, all they want is to make the most of that time.

It’s snowing a little, the last evening, a pleasant chill in the air.  “Should we have a fire?” Mulder asks, gesturing towards the fireplace.

“Sure, that sounds nice,” Scully says.  “I’ll help you set it up.”  They kneel side by side, arranging the logs, and soon they have the fire going.

As they turn to rise, they have a good view of the room.  Their three children are in a row on the couch: Emily on the left, with Tim next to her and Meg on her lap, laughing at something; William on the right, telling some story, obviously the source of the laughter; Susanna in the middle, watching her brother with wide eyes.  Scully laces her hand in his, as they watch, and he bends to kiss her cheek.  “Good birthday?” he asks.

“The best,” she says.


End file.
